Star Gate

Chapter 138: Li Hao’s Aura (III)

A wave of internal force swept toward him; Li Hao planted his feet into the ground without a change in expression. Nine Forged Force!

When Liu Long’s internal force entered his body, it followed his body’s structure and rocked his insides. The young man grunted and stomped lightly on the ground, diverting the wave of force into the earth.

The ground shook and the floor tiles split! Fuck! Li Hao winced with dismay. He snuck a glance at his teacher. Shit shit shit, my teacher saw. I really don’t have any money to fix your floor tiles. He knew that each tile was supremely expensive—five hundred each! He had to swap out an entire house’s worth in one go, that required almost one hundred thousand!

Yuan Shuo’s eyes were as wide as dinner plates—aura! That had absolutely been a fledgling aura! He wasn’t seeing things, he’d already suspected it earlier. Li Hao was now leveraging force against force, diverting Liu Long’s internal force through his body into the ground. That hadn’t been the utilization of simple strength, but the manipulation of a kind of aura!

How is this possible? Yuan Shuo couldn’t believe it. I didn’t teach him this! Even if I did, I would’ve only said to imitate the five animals because that’s the easiest way to comprehend the aura. Li Hao... seemed to have his own understanding.

Liu Long continued to rage with power, but Yuan Shuo ignored him. There was nothing to see there and no problems that he could discern. Even if the man was successful, he’d only be a typical Dominator with nothing special about him. He wouldn’t possess many distinguishing characteristics.

A Dominator like Liu Long might’ve drawn more attention from Yuan Shuo in the past—before he saw how Li Hao was comprehending the aura. But now, the professor couldn’t be bothered with another glance! He widened his eyes and continued to stare at his student.

A very guilt-stricken Li Hao lowered his head, ardently wishing for his teacher to look elsewhere. Stop staring at me! Isn’t it just one floor tile? Liu Long’s broken several, why don’t you glare at him?

“Hup!” Liu Long’s grunt drew both of their attention.

Yuan Shuo finally shifted his gaze while Li Hao dabbed at nonexistent sweat on his forehead. His teacher’s look had been terrifying! Was there a need for that?? It’s no big deal that I directed internal force into the ground. It’s just basic manipulation of my knowledge and I still don’t know much about aura.

The young man knew that he hadn’t comprehended the aura; he just had a basic understanding and slightly swept the fog away.

Little did he know that one small step was a sign to Yuan Shuo that his disciple was on the right path. Li Hao possessed the requisite physique and had wrapped his head around the burgeoning notion of aura. If nothing went awry, the doors to Dominator of Thousands were creaking open to him!

Incredible! Emotion rocked Yuan Shuo’s inner world, but he had no words to express himself.

“Deploying moves in the air is useless!” he growled instead. “You\'re so weak that you’re taking half a day to simply understand the aura. Nine layers of the waves are completely wasted in your hands!”

He punched with exquisite speed as he spoke; there was nothing but a looming fist in Li Hao’s field of vision. It turned into a vicious tiger descending the mountain in the blink of an eye, one that pounced on its prey.

Liu Long appeared to be a massive wave, but was abruptly reduced to a tiny creek. The ferocious tiger grabbed him in its paw and flung him around—the difference between the two was apparent!

“That’s it? That’s not enough, you trash!” Yuan Shuo roared angrily. A bear descended in Li Hao’s line of sight next and a bear paw slammed down on the wave. The wave broke apart while in the real world, Liu Long rocked back on his heels from Yuan Shuo’s palm strike.

Shock crossed the director’s face! He could sense that he was about to break through, but he couldn’t put up a fight against the professor. It’d only been a few days since Yuan Shuo progressed, but the gap between them was so noticeable!

“Is that all there is to a tidal wave?” Yuan Shuo demanded aloofly. “Are you worthy of battling a Solar like this?! You’re dead as soon as they unleash their aura! Do you really think you’ll be able to match them just as a Dominator? I want to see a tidal wave, not a massage and shower! Your ugly face doesn’t even count as a bath!”

Liu Long flew into a rage! A bath?! Who are you belittling?!

“Break!” he grunted and punched again, his arm darting out like a spear. A water dragon erupted in the mental sense.

A loud bang answered him as Yuan Shuo seemed to transform into a massive ape. The ape sought to capture the dragon! The professor waved his hand and squashed his opponent, instantly clenching the water dragon to death.

“Haha!!”

The bark of victorious laughter incensed Liu Long beyond all reservation. His opponent was so strong that he couldn’t begin to match the other! He could not begin to withstand Yuan Shuo even with his aura in full throttle. The man in front of him was terrifying.

Liu Long had been concerned that they would spar to the point of losing their tempers, but now he realized that he’d thought too much. The only one to lose his temper was him, his opponent was just toying with him!

“Layer!” A forceful wave appeared, one wave piling atop another. Three, four... nine layers in the span of a breath!

Whoosh whoosh whoosh... boom boom boom! sounded by Li Hao’s ears. He stared raptly at the fight, at Liu Long’s fists and his teacher’s hands. One used the Nine Forged Force and the other New Book of Five Styles, both of which he knew. They were both Dominators—indeed, Liu Long seemed to have advanced in this moment. Unbeknownst to him, aura punctuated each of his moves and he brought it to bear against his opponent. He was simply being overpowered by the professor.

Regardless, it was now a clash between two Dominators. As a new Sunderer, Li Hao was afforded a rare opportunity to observe a fight of this caliber in close quarters. He subconsciously aped their movements, drinking in every single punch and palm strike. The young man couldn’t help but put himself in Liu Long’s shoes so he could perceive his teacher’s aura. He broke out in a cold sweat the second he did so.

So fast!

His teacher was too fast; Liu Long was entirely on the back foot. He wasn’t as fast as Yuan Shuo—whether in terms of reaction, adaptation, or deployment of technique. All Liu Long could do was doggedly match blow for blow!

Li Hao suddenly felt an icy grip around his throat. Yuan Shuo shifted his punch into a claw and swept at Liu Long’s throat like an eagle. The director roared and waved his fists around, wanting to use nine layered force to beat his opponent back.

No... he should retreat or dodge. He can’t hold it off! The thought rose in Li Hao’s mind.

Liu Long grunted—Yuan Shuo’s hand had disappeared. It was now around the man’s throat and clenching his windpipe. The professor easily brushed off Liu Long’s fists, sending them down the latter’s sides.

Dejection filled the director’s face, yet Yuan Shuo didn’t even look at him. He turned to Li Hao, a movement subconsciously echoed by Liu Long. What the director saw surprised the man.

Li Hao dripped with sweat as he forced his hands apart. He seemed to be trying to shove something out rather than attack someone. He was defying Yuan Shuo’s hand, one that didn’t exist!

The young man leaned backward as he thrusted his hands apart and braced himself with his right arm, pushing forward! His palm did seem to connect with something and Li Hao pushed off his toes, performed a backflip and tumbled onto the ground, swiftly evading something.

Liu Long’s eyes widened with surprise! Was this Li Hao’s method of counterattack?

The heavily sweating young man returned to his senses after he rolled away. He glanced sideways at the silent living room and was seized by sudden awkwardness. He looked at how dirty he was, then at the two broken floor tiles his toes had dug into...

“Teacher and chief’s battle was so marvelous that I couldn’t help but try to practice a thing or two,” Li Hao coughed lightly. “Teacher, the chief is our guest, so we can’t make him repair the tiles that he broke. I’ll pay for the repairs...”

Retreating in order to advance!

As expected, Liu Long swiftly interjected, “There’s no need, I’ll send people to fix them! I was too overworked to consider our environment. I’ll have someone come by to replace them.”

Yuan Shuo looked at his student with a half smile, a reaction that enlightened Liu Long. He looked speechlessly at the young man.

Was that on purpose? You said that to prompt my response so that I would fix the floor tiles. But of course, this was hardly Liu Long’s current focus. He fixed his gaze on Liu Long for a long while. “You first pushed Elder Yuan’s hand again, then counterattacked...”

“I didn’t!” Li Hao shook his head. “I couldn’t counterattack, teacher is too strong. I pushed so I could shift teacher’s claw attack to the side. His next move would be to quickly follow that up with a hand to the throat, so I could only push off from the ground to flee the premises. My opponent was too much for me!”

Indeed, he was outclassed by his opponent. That was why he’d rolled on the ground after jumping back—it was to run away as fast as possible. He didn’t intend to counterattack at all.

Liu Long stared into space before smiling ruefully. “Well I can’t get away, I’m not fast enough!”

This wasn’t a move he could imitate because he was too slow! He may be a Dominator now, but still suffered blow after blow. He would die to Yuan Shuo because he reacted slower than Li Hao. He was less than even the kid! Not in terms of strength, but with strategy and reaction. He relied too much on pure strength!

Did this count as a breakthrough? Was he a walking god, a Dominator of Thousands?

Hah!

Liu Long drooped, then couldn’t help but ask, “Did you comprehend anything from my aura?”

Li Hao hesitated, then nodded. “I did, and a lot of things!”

“What did you comprehend?” Liu Long insisted.

Awkwardness crossed Li Hao\'s face and he wanted to respond with nonsense when his teacher commanded, “Speak the truth!”

“Chief’s aura is very strong!” The young man looked at his feet with resignation. “The waves build upon each other, each stronger than the one before! But there’s several things from my perspective. For one, you aren’t fast enough. For another, you’re not familiar enough with the Nine Forged Force. There are tiny hiccups when you layer your internal force nine times. They’re very feeble, but I sense them.

“And third, it might be because of your previous injuries, but chief doesn’t seem to dare to use internal force in your arms. You seem to be holding back...” Li Hao’s tone shifted. “Fire and water are heartless! I’ve yet to see the waves, but I’ve witnessed a raging gale. Chief, even water is violent!”

He punched outward with the sound of waves crashing upon the shore! An explosion ripped through the air! A furious storm seemed to be upon them; rain blasted into them. Violence!

Liu Long somehow sensed the violence of rain from Li Hao’s boxing technique! It was the explosive sensation of a storm so domineering that it would split the earth open...

This wasn’t water—or rather, it wasn’t the water of Liu Long’s impression.